What are weapons good for?

Killing, harming and destroying, you would say. But the Mexican artist Pedro Reyes found another purpose for destructive weapons: making music!

In the sonic art installation Disarm, you can see the power of transformation, where weapons are turned into musical instruments. Pedro Reyes used 6.700 firearms confiscated by the Mexican government on the fight against drugs in the country and gave them another purpose, from being objects that produce fear to instruments that can amaze and entertain.

Opening of Disarm at Pulchri. Photo: Esenali Kiris.

In the installation you can see (and hear) parts of shotguns, pistols and rifles combined into eight musical instruments that vibrate, ring, crash at different volumes and intensities. They can be programmed to be played automatically, performing compositions prepared beforehand.

Disarm is a strong message and shows that peace can be promoted by changing the purpose of objects and thoughts… So, how about think more about peace and less about destruction?

This is only one of the events taking place in The Hague during the Just Peace Festival. During the weekend of 21 to 25 September 2016 The Hague will be completely swept away by the Just Peace Festival. With several activities, the city will celebrate the International Day of Peace together with you. Do you want to know more about the events? Take a look into the program and celebrate peace.